A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Thursday, October 24, 2013

A colleague asked me today, "Is this satire?" Oh God, I would love to think so, but this piece on the Ahram Onlinesite by Lubna Abdel Aziz, "Catch the Al-Sisi Mania," sounds only slightly more over the top than the rest of the state media these days. If it's satire, I'm surprised it's in state media; if it's not, we're getting into North Korea territory here. (And if you can no longer be sure if it's real or satire, it tells you how far it's gone.)

He stands straight and tall, impeccably attired and starched from head
to toe. His freshly washed countenance and youthful zeal shield a
Herculean strength and nerves of steel. He wears the feathers of a dove
but has the piercing eyes of a hawk. During our thousand days of
darkness, dozens of potential leaders pranced and boasted, to no avail.
The leader of the people should combine a love of country, a deep faith
in God and the desire to serve the nation’s will.

Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi’s name lit up the darkness. He was called upon at a
supreme moment in history; a kind of mysterious rendez-vous with
destiny. He was a hero like no other! He aroused attention without
exhausting it. Nothing that touched the common run of mortals made any
impression on him. All in all, he is but a common man, with an almost
aristocratic aura of a nobleman. Composed and cool, Al-Sisi is
everyman’s man, with a sort of serene majesty on his brow. He is the
chosen leader of the people because he is willing to be their servant.

Let the deaf, dumb and blind media and governments of the West say what
they will, Al-Sisi submitted to the will of 33 million Egyptians in the
street and 50 million in their homes, crying for salvation. The people
led — Al-Sisi followed....

It gets worse:

In the full vigour of his prime, he exudes a magic charm, afforded to a
select few. His physical appearance — and appearance counts — is
flawless. He wears the emblems of his rank on his shoulders as he does
the legends of his ancient land, with gushing pride. But it is the
swelling reservoir of love for his Egypt and his God that sealed the
deal. We responded to this love a million times over. Therefore, for
those who raise an eyebrow at the portraits, flags, pins, pictures,
chocolates, cups and other forms of Al-Sisi mania that fill the streets
of Egypt, it is only a fraction of the love and appreciation we feel for
this strong yet modest, soft-spoken, sincere and compassionate leader.
It is Kismet....

Then it goes over the top:

His bronzed, gold skin, as gold as the sun’s rays, hides a keen,
analytical fire within. He challenges the world not with bellows and
bravura but with a soft, sombre reproach, with an audible timbre of
compassion.

There is almost poetry in his leadership, but the ardour of the sun is
in his veins. He will lead us to victory and never renounce the
struggle, and we will be right there at his side.

As "a American" myself, and "a American" editor to boot, why am I dubious about "Fred's" command of English?

That "bronzed, gold skin, as gold as the sun’s rays," could explain why he's giving Tutankhamun's golden mask a ride (on a white horse, of course) in this poster, which may mix more metaphors and symbols than anything I've ever seen:

Except of course that Tut's mask is on a woman's body in a a wedding dress. The text is partially obscured and spelled colloquially, but the meaning seems to be "groom [guessing as the word is incomplete] is the male and the bride is the moon(?) and below: "and this is Egypt, oh Americans (you ghajar). (Not sure about the last letter, it looks more like or a 2 or 3. Ghajar means a rude or linguistically crude and abusive person and originally referred to gypsies.)
The photo does not show the entire poster. Perhaps it would make more sense if it showed it all.

Or not. Other suggestions welcome. And they've built some more pyramids. Or perhaps Sisi plans to.

"Michael Collins Dunn is the editor of The Middle East Journal. He also blogs. His latest posting summarizes a lot of material on the Iranian election and offers some sensible interpretation. If you are really interested in the Middle East, you should check him out regularly."— Gary Sick, Gary's Choices

"Since we’re not covering the Tunisian elections particularly well, and neither does Tunisian media, I’ll just point you over here. It’s a great post by MEI editor Michael Collins Dunn, who . . . clearly knows the country pretty well."— alle, Maghreb Politics Review

"I’ve followed Michael Collins Dunn over at the Middle East Institute’s blog since its beginning in January this year. Overall, it is one of the best blogs on Middle Eastern affairs. It is a selection of educated and manifestly knowledgeable ruminations of various aspects of Middle Eastern politics and international relations in the broadest sense."— davidroberts at The Gulf Blog

"Michael Collins Dunn, editor of the prestigious Middle East Journal, wrote an interesting 'Backgrounder' on the Berriane violence at his Middle East Institute Editor’s Blog. It is a strong piece, but imperfect (as all things are) . . ."— kal, The Moor Next DoorThis great video of Nasser posted on Michael Collins Dunn’s blog (which is one of my favorites incidentally) ...— Qifa Nabki